1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to an information technology (IT) infrastructure of an enterprise, and specifically, an IT infrastructure that enables a zero latency enterprise (ZLE). The present invention enables the enterprise to integrate its services, applications and data in real time, hence the ZLE.
2. Background Art
Information technology (IT) allows valuable information to be distributed across organizations to groups of information consumers including remote employees, business partners and customers. However, organizations have large amounts of information located on disparate systems and platforms. For maintaining the desired comprehensive view of their operations, organizations need to integrate theirs systems. Then again, independent configuration for disparate industry standards and technologies makes systems integration requirements difficult to meet. Moreover, as the various business applications have diverse features and are tailored to suit the requirements of a particular domain, their integration requirements may be also difficult to meet. For example, there are significant integration requirements to make it work when integrating a customer relationship management (CRM) application to an existing system with other applications such as SAP""s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software package, as the CRM is uniquely tailored to the customer care domain.
Notwithstanding, when addressing their critical information needs, organizations often resort to new best-of-the-breed applications (or solutions). To leverage their existing applications, organizations integrate their legacy applications with the new solutions, a practice known as enterprise application integration (EAI). To this end, software vendors have responded by building tools, known as EAI products, alas different tools by different vendors, to automate the integration process.
Deficiencies in integration and data sharing are indeed a difficult problem of IT environments for any enterprise. The inability of organizations to operate as one-organ, rather than separate parts, creates a challenge in information exchange and electronic commerce and results in economic inefficiencies.
With conventional solutions, organizations have been using some form of the EAI platform to integrate their application. And, they have been using a different platform for integrating their data into data warehouses. Data warehouses integrate data across an organization for reporting and data mining using business intelligence tools like SAS Institute tools.
The problems with these schemes are that there is no real-time connection and interaction between the EAI and data warehousing. Moreover, with relatively static data warehouses the data warehousing cloud is used for analysis but could not participate in the current transaction or events that are happening in the organization in real time. The organization still will end up with two disjointed infrastructures that cannot leverage each other in real-time (See: FIG. 1). Accordingly the present invention addresses these and related issues.
In accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention relates to methods for enabling an enterprise to run as a zero latency enterprise (ZLE) and for running an enterprise as a ZLE. The present invention allows the enterprise to integrate its services, applications and data in real time. Namely, an enterprise equipped to run as a ZLE is capable of integrating, in real time, its enterprise-wide data, applications, business transactions, operations and values. Consequently, an enterprise conducting its business as a ZLE exhibits superior management of its resources, operations, supply chain and customer care.
Underpinning the superior characteristics of ZLE is an information technology (IT) infrastructure that is equipped with and using the hybrid functionality of a ZLE framework. This framework is not a single product or middle ware. Rather, it defines architecture with collection of products, tools, and services that enables, among others, the reduction of operational latencies in the enterprise. With such hybrid functionality, an enterprise running as a ZLE can route information across various enterprise applications using enterprise application integration technologies. Clearly, the ZLE framework is not just an enterprise integration platform as it can accomplish application and data integration across the enterprise. Using database extractors, database loaders and application adapters technologies, the ZLE can integrate data related to the real-time operations of an enterprise into a storage cache, also known as operational data store (ODS), and synchronize information across the enterprise using enterprise application integration (EAI) tools. Also, with rules and synchronization policies implemented in a ZLE hub with the ODS, any updates communicated to the ZLE hub from any application across the enterprise can, via the ZLE hub, bring about information synchronization in all other applications across the enterprise, including its legacy applications. Information and updates thereof are communicated from the applications to the ZLE hub by way of adapters. Furthermore, the ZLE can provide data to business intelligence applications for analysis, and it supports decision support systems (DSS) and data mart operations as well as transactional access to up to the minute data by multiple add-on new and legacy enterprise applications.
As noted, one embodiment of the present invention is a method for running an enterprise as a ZLE. In conducting its business, the enterprise is experiencing a plurality of events occurring in association with its business transactions. Its business is conducted at a plurality of sites across the enterprise. To reduce the unintended latency in enterprise operations to zero, all organs of the enterprise need to be made aware of business events as they occur, i.e., in real time. Thus, the method for running a ZLE includes integrating, in real time, its enterprise-wide data, applications, business transactions, operations and values. This is done by performing a combination of actions, one of which is capturing, in real time, an indicia of each of the plurality of events. Each indicia is associated with information related to its respective event. The actions also include aggregating, in real-time, the information related to the plurality of events in a central repository database (ODS) where the aggregated information can, in real-time, be accessible and available for loads, extractions, updates, queries and analysis from across the enterprise. As a consequence, a coherent view of the aggregated information is obtained, in real time, from across the enterprise, As a further consequence, the enterprise can achieve enterprise-wide coherent and zero latency business transactions. The actions further include initiating, in real time, a process responsive to each event of the plurality of events which is founded on the coherent view of the aggregated information.
The process includes one or any combination of: a rule-based analysis, in real-time, of the information related to that event; narrowcasting, in real time, a notification associated with that event if the rule-based analysis of its information creates a notable-event that prompts the notification; creating feedback to that event, in real time; creating a new event or cascade of events, and producing a value associated with that event unless, in real-time response to that event, the rule-based analysis of its information precludes production of the associated value. The process of creating the feedback includes offering, in real time based on any part of or the entire information, to provide an additional value, if not precluded by the real-time rule-based analysis. In a case where the aggregated information in the central repository includes a customer profile, the process further can include offering, in real time based on the customer profile, to provide an additional value. The offer is made if not precluded by a result of the real-time rule-based analysis.
As previously noted, another embodiment of the present invention is method for enabling an enterprise to run as ZLE. This method includes creating the ZLE framework that enables the enterprise to integrate its services, applications and data in real time. So enabled, the enterprise can achieve enterprise-wide coherent and zero latency business transactions. Moreover, the ZLE is extensible and available, and the ZLE framework, itself, is extensible and available.
The ZLE framework is formed by merging: enterprise application integration (EAI) functionality; dynamic operational data store (ODS) functionality; transaction processing and monitoring functionality, and data mining and analysis functionality and a feedback mechanism. Together, these functions fashion a hybrid functionality of the ZLE framework. The method further includes integrating ZLE core services, tightly coupling clip-on application to the ZLE core services, and loosely coupling enterprise applications to the ZLE core services. In the case of a ZLE with unified customer relationship management (CRM), the clip-on applications include an interaction manager, a narrowcaster, a campaign manager and a customer data manager. The enterprise applications are operatively interfaced via the EAI functionality and share access to information made available by the ODS functionality. The enterprise applications include one or any combination of: CRM facilitating real-time services including customer care, business intelligence and marketing campaign; operations and resource management supporting the real-time services and creating values that can be offered to one or more customers; and third-party solutions management supporting the ZLE operations and resource management.
The enterprise conducting its business is experiencing in association therewith a plurality of events. Accordingly, the information is related to the enterprise, its business and the plurality of events. The information is being dynamically aggregated via the ODS functionality. As a result, the aggregated information can, in real time, be accessible and available from across the enterprise for the transaction processing and monitoring functionality and for the data mining and analysis functionality. As a further result, there is a coherent view, in real time, of the aggregated information from across the enterprise. What is more, by enabling the enterprise to run as a ZLE, the enterprise is capable of eliminating operational inconsistencies.
There are many ways for implementing these methods in commerce, military, medical, government and other businesses. A number of simple examples of implementation in commerce are hereafter provided.
In one implementation of this method, by means of the hybrid functionality, ZLE core services, clip-on applications and enterprise applications the enterprise can conduct retail business. In relation to its retail business the enterprise can perform business intelligence via real-time fraud management, marketing campaign and profitability management via real-time supply chain and customer care management, profitability forecasting via real-time supply chain management, and customer relationship via real-time integration of business modes, including retail and e-business modes, and customer service support.
In another implementation of this method, by means of the hybrid functionality, ZLE core services, clip-on applications and enterprise applications the enterprise can conduct financial services business. In relation to its financial services business, the enterprise can perform risk management and business intelligence including via real-time client account and fraud management, marketing campaign and profitability management via real-time supply chain and customer care management; profitability forecasting via real-time supply chain management, portfolio assessment via real-time enterprise-wide account balance and asset value evaluation, asset management via intraday borrowing; valuation and transaction processing by real-time dynamic updating of customer accounts and assets, and customer relationship via real-time integration of business modes, including retail and e-business modes, and customer service support.
In yet another implementation of this method, by means of the hybrid functionality, ZLE core services, clip-on applications and enterprise applications the enterprise can conduct transportation and shipping business. In relation to its transportation and shipping business, the enterprise can perform business intelligence via real-time fraud management, marketing campaign and profitability management via real-time supply chain and customer care management, profitability forecasting via real-time supply chain management, and customer relationship via real-time integration of value delivery scheduling, transportation and shipping modes and customer service support.
In yet another implementation of this method, by means of the hybrid functionality, ZLE core services, clip-on applications and enterprise applications the enterprise can conduct manufacturing business. In relation to its manufacturing business, the enterprise can perform risk management and business intelligence via real-time fraud management, marketing campaign and profitability management via real-time supply chain and customer care management, profitability forecasting via real-time supply chain management, and customer relationship via real-time integration of manufacturing scheduling, inventory and manufacturing resources management, and customer service support.
In yet another implementation of this method, by means of the hybrid functionality, ZLE core services, clip-on applications and enterprise applications the enterprise can conduct telecommunications business. In relation to its telecommunications business, the enterprise can perform business intelligence via real-time customer service response, profitability forecasting and risk management via real-time fraud pattern detection and management, campaign and customer relationship via real-time chum management and customer service support management, profitability management and cross-selling of bundled services via real-time profitability analysis by evaluation of route, product and call margins for every customer.
Advantages of the invention will be understood by those skilled in the art, in part, from the description that follows. Advantages of the invention will be further realized and attained from practice of the invention disclosed herein.